Power Rangers Alpha Star
by Dancer of Dreams
Summary: What happens when a couple of unlikely teenagers come across a mysterious power?
1. What Once Was, Is Again, Part 1

Chapter 1: What Once Was, Is Again, Part 1.

Chapter Plot: Two teens stumble into something they can't quite explain.

By: Dancer of Dreams

* * *

A Car Driving On The Highway

11:34 a.m.

The car ride was both long and grueling. Six and a half hours in a car with no air conditioning. Something not that good in the California heat. It didn't help that Olivia Piper was stuck next to Annie, her foster families actual blood related child. They had nothing in common. Annie was a perky, overly exuberant, obnoxious, snob, who thought she was better than everyone else. Olivia was a foster child that had been found by the side of the road with no idea who she was. She pulled at her neon pink shirt tank top, getting some air into her shirt. Her neon green pants were sticking to the leather of the seat and her brown curly hair was sticking to the back of her neck. It wasn't much but it was enough. She let her head rest against the glass of the window, tired. Annie looked as fresh and perky as she had when they got into the car. It was sickening.

"Olivia. Are you alright?" A voice from the front of the car called out to her.

Olivia looked up at female driving the car. "I'm fine, Nikki." Nikki was Olivia's foster mother. She was the one person that Olivia could count on.

"You sure?" Nikki continued. Olivia looked like she was going to be sick. She would have let the girls roll down the windows, but it was raining quite hard.

"I'm sure." She replied, ignoring the look of disgust that Annie shot her. Olivia read a sign as they entered the city limits. _Welcome To Sky Hills._ Sky Hills. Who in their right mind would have named their town that? Still, maybe things would be better.

Maybe.

-

Sky Hills High School

8:12 a.m.

The car that had entered the city limits the day before, pulled into the front of a school. It was like most of the school in the state. Large and full of school spirit. Well, one could only hope the reason the lawn and most of the school was decorated in a mixture of yellow and green was because of school spirit.

Nikki turned to the two teenagers in the back seat. "Girls, I just want you to know I realize it's not easy moving to a whole new town – especially for you, Olivia, right?" Olivia was a very good girl but she had a hard time making friends. She was very defensive when she didn't know some one or was feeling like someone was mocking her.

Olivia stopped fiddling with the hem of her large neon pink shirt and matching pants. "Did we move?" She asked in mock surprise.

Nikki laughed. "I'm just saying you don't make friends as easily as... uh, some people."

Annie reached over forward and turned up the radio.

"Annie, for instance?" Olivia guessed, her voice raised to carry over the music. Nikki might have be a wonderful woman, but she was blind to her daughters faults.

"That's not what I meant... necessarily." Nikki turned off the radio, ignore her daughter sound of indignation. "The point is, the first day at a new school is bound to be difficult..."

Annie once again turned the radio on, this time even louder.

Nikki turned the radio off, once again, giving her daughter a look of warning. She turned around to face Olivia. "Don't ger upset if it takes the other kids a little while to warm up to you."

Annie finally gave up and got out of the car, mumbling a goodbye to her mother. She was greeted at the door by five other teens, obvious introducing themselves.

Olivia shook her head. It figured. Not that she really had a problem with it. When Annie was with others that meant she wasn't around Olivia. Not all and all a bad thing. "I think I'll manage." She climbed out of the car and poked her head back through the door. "Bye, Nikki."

"Wait a minute..."

She shut the door and faced the school. Well, here it goes.

-

Olivia faced the Principal McGuire, Annie had already gotten her schedule and headed off to her first class.

Principal McGuire was sitting behind her desk, facing the teenager in front of her. "It is state mandate that says you have to take the psychological exam."

The teen shook her head. "What about Annie?"

"She already took it at the beginning of the school year at the previous school. You, however, we have no record of ever taking it." McGuire stated.

Olivia shook her head. "I never have." At the administrators curious look, she gave in. "Alright. Bring it on."

-

"Miss. Piper. I am Mr. Davidson. The guidance councilor. I'm the one who's going to be giving you the test." He motioned for her to take a seat on the chair in front of him.

Olivia eyed the man wearily. But she still sat, not seeing the harm in it.

Mr. Davidson smiled. "Alright then. We're going to start with some word associations. I'll say a word and you give me the first word that comes in to your mind, okay?"

She nodded, irritated that he was speaking to her like she was five.

"Okay, then. Hot."

"Hot."

"Cold."

"Cold."

"Red."

"Red."

He could feel the vein in the top of his head, pounding. "Your supposed to give me a different word!"

Olivia held back a smile. She was just messing with him. "You told me to say the first word that pops into my head. And when you say red the first word that pops into my head is, well, red."

Mr. Davidson took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Okay. Lets try something else then. I will show you a picture and you tell me what you see. Simple enough?"

She nodded once again. Like it was that hard.

He held up a picture of a blob that kind off looked liked a decapitated bunny. "What do you see?"

Olivia pretended to take a few moments to contemplate it. "I see... a Christmas tree, a roller coaster, an orangutang, hoards of angry villagers, and a herd of beautiful wild ponies running free across the plains. "

Mr. Davidson frowned, finally figuring out that the girl was messing with him. He wrote something on a piece of paper and shoved it in her hands. "Give this to the principal and get out. Out!" He practically pushed her out the door.

"Hey!" She called. The door slammed closed behind her. Shaking her head, she opened the paper.

Low Self-Esteem.

-

The teacher of this certain class was leaning against the desk. Five... four... three... two... one... Time for the self-esteem class. She motioned for the class to calm down. There was about ten of them. Two to a table. "Esteem... a teen. They don't really rhyme, do they? The sound's don't mesh. And that is the case in the fact of teen and esteem. They just don't go together. But here we are to begin realizing your actuality. Then each and everyone of them will be able to proudly say, 'I am.' Now, before we.." Mrs. Pruitt trailed off as one girl in neon pink raised her hand.

"Excuse me." Olivia interrupted. "I have a question."

Mrs. Pruitt shook her head. "Sorry, question and answer time is later."

Olivia replied, "I want to know what 'realizing your actuality' means."

The teacher fiddled with a pencil nervously. "It means... look. Just let me get through this part, okay? Then there'll be a video. Before we unlock your potential..." She returned to speak to everyone in the class.

The boy who was sitting beside Olivia at her table leaned over and whispered to her. "She doesn't know what it means. She's got the whole speech memorized. Just enjoy the nice woman's soothing voice." He was about a head taller than her and was wearing a plain blue shirt and blue jeans. His hair was a dirty blond and messy.

Olivia just whispered back, "How am I supposed to follow her if I don't know what she's talking about?" He seemed nice enough, but she was still kind of weary. It was a natural defense.

The boy just shook his head. "I can fill you in later. I've taken this course six times."

The moment the class was over, the boy turned to her. "I'm Daniel Marsh."

She paused a moment before introducing himself. "Olivia Piper."

"It's nice to meet you. You new here?" Daniel asked her.

"Yep." Olivia smiled at him.

Daniel headed to the door. "Come on. I'll fill you in on the class."

-

"So, then, after the role-playing, next they spilt the girl and boys into different groups and take them into separate room. I don't know about the girl's, but with the boy's its our self-image and self-concept." Daniel informed her. He watched as she shifted the books then stopped and placed them on the ground to tie her shoe.

Olivia looked up at Daniel as she spoke. "I don't get it, Daniel." He was nice enough and was actually talking to her, which was a big plus. And a major step over the people at her other school. "You've got the entire course memorized. How come you can't pass the test to get out?"

He shrugged. "I could pass the test, but I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special."

Olivia laughed out loud. It felt nice, but wasn't something she had done in a while. Actually, she couldn't remember the last time she did it.

"Really, I don't have anything better to do. I like knowing what's going to happen before anyone else. It throws the others off balance." Daniel replied. He grinned and held a hand out to her to help her up.

She looked at his hand for a moment before deciding to take it. Olivia was hauled to her feet. "Thanks." She looked around. "I should be getting home." She headed toward the street.

Daniel blink in surprise. "Hold on." He hurried after her. "Let me walk you." He smiled when she didn't stop him. "So where are we headed?"

-

"Are we sure that we should be going through here?" Daniel asked his new friend. He had never been into these woods before.

"They exit out on Peach Street, right?" Olivia heard his reluctant yes. "Then it should cut off about ten minutes from the walking time."

Daniel continued to look unsure. "Still..." He eyed the woods around him wearily.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "The sooner we get there, the less chance that we'll get caught in the rain." She pointed to the rain clouds above head.

He nodded and it was quiet for a few moments. That was, until, well, Daniel was the first to feel it. He wiped the droplet of water off of his forehead. "Uh oh." He felt another drop of water hit his arm. "Run." Daniel yelled at her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him for a few moments, until she got her bearings and met him pace for pace. By then it was coming down hard.

Olivia wiped the rain water from her eyes. It was pouring. Hard. She blinked and managed to see a large object in front of her eyes. It seemed to be a house. "Let's go in there." She pointed to the house and headed for it. Until a hand gripped her arm.

"Wait." Daniel shook his head. "It's haunted."

"What?"

Daniel sighed and yelled louder over the rain. "It's haunted!" Thunder crackled over head.

Olivia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Oh, come on! You don't believe that, do you?!" She yelled. He couldn't believe that, could he?

"Yeah! I do!"Came the reply.

Olivia felt something hard hit her in the back of the neck. And then another. And then another. It was hailing. She grabbed him and pulled him toward the house. "Well, suck it up." They made it with the occasional ow, ouch, or his in pain.

"Thanks." Daniel said to Olivia, once they were inside the safety of the porch.

She nodded her welcome. Olivia was to busy examining the porch. It was old and obviously abandoned. She pushed the door open and entered.

Daniel was watching the rain. He looked to Olivia only to find her gone and the door wide open. "Olivia?" He walked to the door and leaned inside. "Olivia?!" A thump and ouch was heard from inside.

"What?" She walk back into the entrance, irritable. She had bumped her head on the door frame when he called her name. Okay, so she was a little jumpy.

"We shouldn't be in here." He whispered and entered what seemed to be a living room.

"It's not like anyone lives in here." She pushed open a door and entered a room that looked pitch black. "Wonder what's in here..."

"We really shouldn't be here..." He said more for his own comfort than anyone else's. It was quiet. Too quiet. "Olivia? Olivia..." He looked into the room she had entered. It was impossible to see a thing. He stepped into the room. "Olivia?" He walked deeper into it.

"Boo!" Olivia shouted, behind Daniel. She couldn't help but let out a giggle as he grabbed his heart.

"Olivia!" Daniel practically yelled. He shook his head. "Why even bother?" He turned to leave the room when the door slammed shut. The room now completely black. "That wasn't funny, Olivia."

"I didn't do that." She whispered. Olivia headed for area where the door was and felt for a doorknob. She couldn't even feel the door seam. "Oh, dear. Oh, dear." That was repeated a few more times.

"Oh, dear? Oh, dear doesn't sound good." Daniel muttered. "What's wrong?" He questioned her.

Olivia was still frantically trying to find the door. "I can't find the doorknob. I can't even find the seam!"

Daniel shook his head. "No. That can't be right. There has to be one."

"Well get over here and help me then!" She grabbed around until she felt his pant leg and pulled him forward.

"I can't find it either!" Daniel cried out.

"Duh! That's what I said!" Olivia told him. "It's useless." She leaned against the wall and slapped her hand to the wall. "Crap!"

The area where she had slapped the wall began to glow. Light shot up and down the wall and to both sides. It filled the area and it became apparent that what they thought had been a room hadn't been more than six feet both wide and long.

"What did you do?" Daniel demanded. "What did you do?!"

"I don't know! I don't know!" Olivia shot to her feet soon followed by Daniel.

The room gave a jerk and started to slide down. It was an elevator. A couple moments later, it stopped and the two all but ran out of the enclosed area. The room automatically lit up, as if sensing that someone was there. There was just a bunch of tarp's cover stuff. In the middle of the room there was a box. There was something about it that drew the two.

Olivia was the first to try to touch the box. The moment her fingers touched it, the top of the box sliced down the middle and it opened.

Daniel couldn't understand what was going on. It was like his feet were on autopilot. He reached in and grabbed a blue star crystal out. He fiddled with it for a moment before placing it on his wrist. It glowed and grew, enclosing his forearms. The moment the light died down there was a gauntlet on his left arm, made out of some sort of dark blue leather and the crystal in the middle.

Then Olivia reached out and grabbed the pink one. She, too, placed it on her wrist and it created the same gauntlet only with the leather a dark pink and the crystal a light one. As the glow died down, Olivia let out and cry and tried to pry it from her forearm. "Come on! Get off!"

Daniel also struggled to pull his off. "Maybe there is something on one of the tables to get them off." He reached over and pulled some tarps off. Underneath one of them, there was a computer. "Cool!" The puzzle solver could help himself, even though there were more pressing matters at hand. He pressed a button. And then another.

"Daniel! Stop it!" Olivia called to him and walked up behind him.

The screens lit up and a woman's face appeared on the screen. And beside them appeared a full bodied hologram. The woman had black hair, with blue streaks and a leather outfit that had a blue strip down the middle. Both the screen and the hologram began to speak, "I am the AI X79HY56, code name Lilanda. I welcome you, the new protectors, to central command."


	2. What Once Was, Is Again, Part 2

Chapter 2: What Once Was, Is Again, Part 2.

Chapter Plot: Two teenagers find themselves thrown into a world they can barely comprehend.

By: Dancer of Dreams

Notes: I have no idea what their outfits are made of, but I'm going with spandex. (Sorry if it is wrong.)

Advice To Live By: As you journey through life take a minute every now and then to give a thought for the other fellow. He could be plotting something.

* * *

_"I am the AI XY79HY56, code name Lilanda. I welcome you, the new protectors, to central command."_

Olivia jumped, with an 'eek'. "Woah. What in the world did you do?" She slid away from the hologram.

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I just pushed some buttons and..." He trailed off as he pushed some more buttons. Suddenly both the hologram and the woman on the computer screen disappeared. Then the screen flickered and on it appeared what seemed to be some sort of footage.

_There was screaming. _

_A woman with red hair and a blue red tinted skin ran into view. She was soon followed by a man who looked vaguely like a fish. _

_He launched himself at her and they both feel out of view. _

_"Alira--!" A male voice yelled, choking off at the end. _

_There was a maniacal laugh and a female yell. _

_"No!" The woman, Alira, yelled. She seemed to run to the console and push a few buttons. The area where they had found the crystals glowed momentarily and a sort of shield went up._

_"What did you do?" The evil man yelled at her. He tried to grab the case, only to be shocked. _

_She grinned. "You cannot touch the crystals, only the chosen ones can." Alira glared at him._

_"Fix it." He pulled some sort of energy knife from his side and placed it against her neck. It created a fine line of orange blood and she flinched._

_"Never!" She screamed at him. "You killed the other guardians. Now you will never own the power!" Alira let out a cry. "Why did you betray us?" _

_"Why not? For power. Why else?" He grabbed her and threw her out of the camera's range. _

_The next thing they knew, something orange, that looked suspiciously like the woman's blood, splattered across the screen. _

"Wow." Olivia whispered. "What was that?"

A voice from beside her spoke. "That was the end."

Both Daniel and Olivia turned around at the same time. There was the woman that had appeared on the screen only moments before.

"Woah." That came from Olivia. She circled around the hologram, figuring it wasn't harmful.

"Cool. A hologram." Daniel mumbled. He joined his friend in circling the hologram, who was beginning to seem a little annoyed.

The hologram and computer screen smiled slightly. "I am more than that. I am an AI, and artificial intelligence."

They both jumped back. "You can talk?" This came from Olivia. She certainly hadn't seen anything like this before.

The hologram gave her a look like 'duh'.

"Right." Daniel was starting to get a little freaked out. "Time to go, Olivia." He grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her to the door.

"Wait!" The A.I., Lilanda, called to them. At that the elevator's door slammed closed.

"Hey!" Olivia cried out.

Lilanda shook her head. "We need to talk."

"No. We don't." Olivia replied.

"The gauntlets choose you and you accepted them." The A.I. informed them. "When you accepted them, they joined with you. Your energy's became one."

Daniel looked confused. "What?"

"Those gauntlets hold the power." She informed the teens.

"What sort of power?" Olivia asked the woman in front of her.

The power fluctuated. Lilanda's form flicked before reappearing. "There isn't much time. The power you hold is the power to become power rangers."

Olivia let out a laugh. "Power Rangers?"

Lilanda nodded. "They are real. Now that the power has been reawakened, he will come after you. He will try to destroy you and take the power." The power once again fluctuated. "You must hurry and leave. If the power cuts before you make it back to the top, you will be stuck."

"How do we use it?" Daniel nodded towards the elevator.

"Place you hand on the middle of the left corner. It will go and take you to top surface." She stopped them once again before they left. "Wait." A mechanical arm shot out of the wall and pick up something off of a table. It chucked it at Olivia, who caught it. "And take the crystal box." The mechanical arm picked the box that the they had got the crystals out of and handed it to Daniel. "Only when the crystals have returned to their chosen will central command be able to return to full power. When you want to transform. Just call out 'Alpha Star. Execute! You will then become power rangers."

"How will we know where their 'chosen' are?" Daniel asked.

"The device I gave you. It will pick up on their energy signals. Use the energy of the gauntlets to activate it. There are only two more crystals." The power cut off and for one frightening minute the two had worried that the power was completely gone. But the power had cut back on and Lilanda had reappeared. "Hurry, my power has almost completely depleted."

The two teens hurried out the door and up the elevator. And not a moment to soon. The moment they entered the living room of the old house the power had completely shut down.

* * *

Somewhere outside the Cyclops Nebula

A fish like man smiled. He looked at the flat screen on the table. "So the gauntlets have passed on to a new generation." He stood up and head to the door, pausing before he exited the door. "Very good. It will make this easier." He left.

* * *

Sky Hill's High School

7: 46 am, The Next Day

"So what do you think we should do?" Daniel sat down on the picnic table, in front of Olivia. He placed the box between them and she sat the finder on top. They had split company after leaving the abandoned house the evening before, deciding to choose what to do the next day. Still, he hadn't got much sleep the night before. And, by the looks of Olivia, she hadn't either. The clothes she had chosen was wrinkled, her hair hadn't been brushed, and she looked dead on the water. Like him she had covered up the gauntlet, only he had worn a long sleeve shirt (which was stupid in the crazy heat like this). She had taken a long piece of neon pink cloth, matching her tank shirt (her pants were white), and she had wrapped them on over the gauntlet, holding them together with a couple of safety pins. It didn't look great, but it worked.

She noticed him watching her and unconsciously smoothed her shirt. Olivia glared at him, which he grinned at and flushed a little. "I look like crap. I know." She sighed. "Right. So... I think we should do it." She thought about this a lot last night. And she had came firmly to this conclusion.

"Are you nuts?" Daniel questioned her. "If what she said was right, it could get us killed."

"If what she said was right, he, who ever he is, is going to come after us anyways." Olivia informed him. "I'm not saying that we try to go after him, but there is nothing that we can do if he comes after us."

"That's exactly the thing. We don't even know who, or what, is going to come after us." Daniel practically yelled at her.

"Shh!" Olivia place a hand over his mouth. "Do you want someone to hear us?" She shook her head. "That's why we have to find the others. It he does find us, there is more power in four than two."

"It's up to you." Daniel told her.

"Me? Why?" She asked him, curious.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I can't let you do yourself. It's suicide. If I'll feel better if I know you're not going in alone."

She grinned in at him. "It's decided then. We're going to do it."

He dropped his head. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

Olivia giggled. "Come on. Let's get to class."

"If I do this. Just one thing." Daniel grabbed the box and shoved into his back pack, handing her the finder.

"Name it."

He pulled his sleeve back, showing some of the gauntlet. "Let's find a way to camouflage these."

"Deal." She dragged him off, into the school.

* * *

In self-esteem class, later in the afternoon, Olivia yawned the class getting even more boring than it had begun.

Mrs. Priutt tried to avoid yawning as well. "So, what are we talking about when we talk about ourselves?" She paused. No one even moved. "Anyone?" Someone in the middle of the room raised his hand. "Yes."

"We're... talking about us."

The teacher grinned. "Excellent. When we talk about 'ourselves' we're talking about 'us'. Now, everyone, I've got a little challenge for you. Today we talked about turning your daydreams into reality. Tonight, I want each of you to go home and do just that. What do you say?" She waited. That had gotten everyone's attention. All except two teens in the back. The male in blue and the female in pink. "Um... you." She pointed to the male. "What's a daydream that you'd like to see come true?"

Daniel blinked, coming back to reality. His mind had been elsewhere. The same place it had been all day. "Well, I guess I'd like my whole family to do something together."

"Excellent!" Mrs. Pruitt replied.

He grinned, obviously coming up with an idea to mess with the teacher. "Something that'll really make them suffer." Like his parents were ever around...

The teacher looked taken aback. "Uh... it's healthy to air these feelings... It think." She glanced at the watch on her hand. "Oh, look at the time. Class is over. We'll talk more about this tomorrow. Class dismissed."

Olivia gathered her back and smiled. "Nice one."

"Thanks." Came the reply.

Olivia rolled her eyes. They exited the school everyone had already gone. All except the self-esteem class and their teacher. They class had came out the front and the two teens were leaving the back, though, planning to take the wood back again.

* * *

"They don't look like much of a problem, Afner." A woman with black hair and neon blue roots, and a black body suit informed her employee. The one in pink looked very familiar.

The fish looking man, Afner, shook his head. "Drincka, my lady, they are more then they seem." He explained to his employer. No one but his sister would ever know that he had an alternative motive. The woman did not understand the power that these kids were carrying around.

"If they stand between me and finding my sister than we'll see." She turned to Afner's sister. "Elxtra, what do you think?"

The fish woman nodded. "They are certainly a threat."

"Alright." Drincka turned to the cat-like creatures behind her. "Tridroids. Get them."

The creatures did as she commanded.

* * *

Daniel stretched his arms above his head. The forest was very quiet. Actually, it was to quiet. Usually there were birds chirping and wind was whistling. But now there was nothing. "Wait." He flung an arm out in front of Olivia, stopping her cold. "Do you hear that?" He asked her.

Olivia shook her head. She hadn't known him that long, but it didn't take a genus to realize he could be really weird at sometimes. "No. I don't hear anything."

"Me either. That's the problem." Daniel shook his head.

There was a rustling from beside them. They turned in union to see the creatures standing beside them. There two fish-like beings. One was male and the other female. Behind them were many creatures that looked exactly the same. They are completely dark blue except for three red x's on their faces. Two where the eyes were supposed to be and one in place of the mouth.

"Woah!" Olivia called out. This was creepy. "What are you?"

The female fish smirked. "I am Elxtra."

The male followed in suit. "I am Afner. Give us the gauntlets or face the consequences." He commanded of her.

Daniel leaned over to Olivia. "Now would be a good time to run." They took off farther into the woods like a shot.

Afner snickered. "Tridriods. Attack." He commanded the dark blue creatures, who took off after the teenagers.

"They're following." Olivia glanced behind her and saw the Tridriods. The next thing she knew, she was tackled my one of them. She let out a shriek and nailed the thing with her foot, sending the thing flying backwards. She scrambled up to her feet and joined Daniel, who had turned to face the on coming Tridriods.

The Tridriods attacked.

Olivia sidestepped her attacker, grabbed his arm, swung him around and threw him into a tree. She gave one a full spinning hook kick and followed up with a roundhouse kick to it's head.

Daniel did backhanded punch to one of them, it's head snapped hard to the side. He ducked ones swing and did a roundhouse kick to the back of it's knee, making it collapse to the ground. "I didn't know I could do that." He told Olivia.

She did a back elbow jab at ones face, causing it to step backwards and fall over a fallen Tridriod. "Me either." Another one jumped up into the fray and tried to punch her, but she blocked him, grabbed its arm and threw him up against the rock wall. It tried to come after her again, but she side kicked him soundly in the gut, forcing him back up against the wall.

Daniel turned around just in time to get punched in the face by one. It tried to punch him again, but he ducked it and rose back up to roundhouse kick it in the side of the head.

"Time to go!" Olivia yelled at Daniel and grabbed him by the arm to drag him off. They were blocked in my the Tridriods. Olivia glanced around in the other direction. They were surrounded. "What are we going to do?"

He looked at the gauntlet that was wrapped around his wrist. "We could..." Daniel held it up to her.

"What? I thought you were completely against it?"

Daniel shook his head. "If it saves our butts., then I don't."

Olivia looked him in the eyes and nodded. "Alright then."

The two ran their hands over their gauntlets, transforming them into morphers. They pulled the half of the stars off of them. "ALPHA STAR! EXECUTE!" They slid the star back on top of the other one changing from and five point star to a ten point star. A couple moments later, they had been transformed.

"Cool!"Olivia looked at her pink outfit. It was a pink spandex no sleeve dress thing with a silver star in the middle of the chest. There were dark pink boots and silver spandex tights. Pink elbow-length gloves dawned her hands and their was the same sliver spandex tights material traveling from her shoulder into the gloves. Her helmet was a simple design mixture of pink, sliver and black.

Daniel grinned, though it was impossible to see. "Tell me about it!" His outfit was sort of like hers only not in dress form. It was a complete full body dark blue spandex outfit. The only silver on the outfit, until you reached the helmet, was the star on his chest. He had even darker blue boots on his feet.

She snickered. "You're wearing spandex."

"_You're wearing spandex._" Daniel mocked. "You're wearing it too." He informed her.

Forgetting about the creatures around her, Olivia snorted. "I noticed. And I happen to think that I can pull this look off."

Afner growled. "Ranger's or not, I will still destroy you!" He turned back to the Tridriods. "Get them!"

Olivia's eyes widened as they advanced. She kicked one in the face with a high round house kick, forcing it to step backwards to keep its balance. Another returned with a jumping half-twist crescent kick, which she ducked. It tried two punches, but Olivia blocked both. On the third punch, she grabbed a hold of its arm and hit him in the face with a front high kick. Letting go of the Tridriod, Buffy punched it squarely in the midsection and followed up with a swinging punch to its face, sending it to the ground.

Daniel had to grin as he saw his new friend fight the creatures that were attacking them. He blinked as a Tridriod punched high, blocking it. It threw a backhand punch, but he blocked it again and followed up with a front snap kick to its stomach. As it leaned forward in pain, Daniel slammed his elbow into it's back.

Afner growled. It was not possible. No two teenagers could defeat his Tridriods. "I will take care of this little problem myself." He turned to his sister. "You go after the boy. I'll see if I can handle the _little girl_." His voice surrendered his idea of the girl. He approached the girl, the Tridriods separating like the red sea. Afner attacked Olivia with a double punch, but she blocked it and delivered a punch to his gut and a hopping snap kick to his jaw. He stepped back, but wasn't fazed. "You're strong." He landed a solid backhand fist to her, sending her flying. "I'm stronger."

While Afner attacked Olivia, Elxtra took her frustrations out on Daniel. She cartwheeled and immediately lunched into a full spinning hook kick, which he barely managed to dodge. He came up in and assumed fighting position. She came at him and swung, but he blocked it, held onto his arm and gave her three round house kicks to her stomach before she shakes loose.

Daniel managed to dodge another kick, glancing at Olivia in time to see her go flying. "Olivia!" He called. Luckily, he saw her immediate jump back up, clutching her stomach.

"You're wasting my time." Afner called.

"Hey, I had other plans, too, okay?" Olivia replied, her arm still wrapped around her stomach in pain.

Elxtra joined her brother. "You think you can stop me? Stop us?"

"You have no idea what you're dealing with." Afner growled.

All the while Drincka was watching the whole exchange, a curious look on her face. She still was sure whether the teenager were a threat. They didn't seem like much of one. It seemed as if they hadn't even been fighting long. Plus, the teens hadn't attacked them. They had attacked the teens. It was like they didn't even want to fight. Curiouser and Curiouser. "Afner. Elxtra. Don't even bother." She turned to leave. "Let's go."

Elxtra frowned. "But, my lady,..."

"Now." Even though her voice didn't raise, an unmistakable tone to it. Commanding.

The woman and the fish people disappeared in a flash of light.

"Now that was strange." Olivia informed Daniel.

"Oh yeah."

* * *

Olivia's Foster Mother's House

6:37 pm

Olivia was laying on her stomach, not even caring that the grass was still damp. She was watching her gauntlet, it shape shifted into a crystal bracelet (the exact color of her crystal) and she shifted it back again. Her eyes never leaving the bracelet/gauntlet, she repeated the process.

On one of the steps, Daniel was taping on his laptop, his gauntlet already shifted into a bracelet. He glanced at Olivia as she shifted her gauntlet over and over. "Are you sure you want to do that out here. What if someone sees you?"

She snorted. "Who's going to see me? Nikki's at work and Annie's off with whats-their-faces. And there is no one around for miles. I live in the middle of the woods." Olivia gestured to the forest.

"Still..."

"Oh, stop being such a worry wort." Olivia giggled and rolled over onto her back.

Daniel grinned. "Low self-esteem, huh?"

Olivia snort once again. "I don't have low self-esteem. I just have low-esteem for everyone else." She replied and then sighed. "You might be right though." The bracelet returned. "I'll be more careful. Still, you got it admit it is cool."

"Yeah, risking our necks for who knows what reason." Daniel said, deadpan.

She just rolled her eyes. "You know all the answer to the questions on the release test, right?"

He nodded. "I've got them in my notebook." Daniel tossed it to her.

Olivia caught it an sat up. "Cool." She flipped it open, than stopped at a certain page. "Listen to this, 'The next time you start to feel bad about yourself stand in front of a mirror, look yourself in the eye and say, "You are an individual. No one else is like you." Olivia paused for a moment. "Last time I checked, that was called schizophrenia."

"Either way, it involves psychology."

Olivia nodded. "You know, why don't we just take the test tomorrow and get out of the class once and for all?"

"How would I spend my afternoons?" Daniel questioned her.

She held up the finder, conveying a silent message.

"Well it certainly can't be much worse than listening to Mrs. Pruitt droning on and on."

* * *

Sky Hills High School

4:15 p.m.

Mrs. Pruitt sighed. "And so, for tomorrow I want you to make a list of ten ways the would be a sadder place if you weren't in it."

A boy in the front of the classroom raised his hand, "Oh, Mrs. Pruitt, Mrs. Pruitt!"

"Yes, um... you."

"Is that if we'd never been born, or if we died suddenly and unexpectedly?" He asked.

"Never been born." The bell rang. "See you all tomorrow!" She called, not noticing the two teens who was approaching her. She felt a tap on her shoulder and jump as she noticed them. "Hi! Did you need clarification on something we covered today?"

Daniel shook his head. "We feel really good about ourselves."

"We feel as though we are ready to take the graduation test." Olivia finished.

Mrs. Pruitt grinned. "Well! I'm glad your self-image meter is on the up tick, but we still have five weeks of class left."

"This first week has been a real eye-opener. It must be the way you teach." Daniel buttered up the teacher.

The teacher blushed at the compliment. "Oh, well... thank you very much." She looked at Daniel more closely. "You know, you look familiar somehow."

Olivia caught the teachers attention before she could figure it out. "So... can we take the test?"

"Well, it's not the way we usually do it, but... I guess so." She grabbed the test off of her desk. "Okay question one: 'Self-esteem is important because..."

"It's a quality that will set us up for good positions for the rest of our lives." He finished the question.

Mrs. Pruitt nodded, impressed. "Good. Now, 'The next time I start to feel bad about myself...'"

Olivia finished this one, "Stand before the mirror, look myself in the eye and say, 'You are an individual. No one else is like you.'"

"You two really have been paying attention! Okay, 'There is no such thing..."

"As the right weight." Olivia continued.

"Or the right height." Daniel added.

Olivia grinned. "There is only what is right for me."

Daniel finished it off. "Because me is who I am."

Mrs. Pruitt jumped up happily. "I don't think we have to fo ant farther. I am really pleased! I think the whole school needs to hear about this at assembly!"She left the room in a rush, hurrying to find the principal.

Olivia blinked. "Assembly? Assembly!" She exchanged a look with Daniel and they took off after her.

* * *

Sky Hills Auditorium

The Next Day, 12:45 p.m.

Unfortunately they had not been able to talk Mrs. Pruitt out of informing everyone at the assembly. Currently, Principal McQuire was droning on and on about some school thing. No one was really paying attention, though. Some were whispering, others were napping. Olivia noticed that Annie was one of those who were whispering. Actually, Annie was whispering and pointing at Olivia was sitting hunched down in one of the seat, trying to disappear.

Principal McQuire noticed none of this. "And once again, the bake sale was a tremendous success. We raised more than $400, which was subsequently stolen from the office, but I am confident we will get that money back. In a related note, the school nurse will be visiting home rooms tomorrow to collect DNA samples. Now, Mrs. Pruitt has exciting news about our after-school self-esteem class."

Sliding even farther down into the seat, Olivia whispered to Daniel. "This is really going to help me gradually ease into student life."

Daniel shook his head. "Usually when I have this dream I'm wearing pink taffeta and have a chicken on my head."

There was a meager applause from the crowd.

"Thank you." Mrs. Pruitt began her speech. "You know, self-esteem is a little like you car's brake fluid. You may not even know you're low on it until one day you go to shift gears and nothing happens."

A voice from the crowd yelled. "That's transmission fluid!" It got tittering and catcalls from the audience.

Mrs. Pruitt blushed slightly. "That's... what I said. Anyway, I'd like you to meet two students who have completed out self-esteem course faster than anyone ever before! Please join me in congratulations as I present these certificates of self-esteem to... Daniel Marsh and Olivia Piper."

Another meager applause.

They didn't move. "Well?" Daniel turned to Olivia.

"Well what?" Olivia replied.

Daniel shook his head and motioned to the stage.

"No way! I'm not going up there. You!" She refused.

"I'm not doing it! You do it!"

"No way! You!"

"You!"

"You!"

Daniel shook his head. "Oh, what the hell." He mumbled and walked to the podium, as th emeager applause died. A grin crossed his face a idea came to mind. "I just want to say how proud I am today. Knowing that I have self-esteem gives me even more self-esteem." Daniel glanced at Olivia, who caught the gist of what he had in mind and smirked back. He let his voice wobble a little. "On the other hand, having all you know that I had low self-esteem make me feel... kind of bad. Like a big failure or something." The audience tittered. "I, uh, I want to go home." He let out a fake sob and ran off stage.

The audience laughed as Mrs. Pruitt ran off after him. Olivia snuck off as everyone's attention was deferred.

* * *

Olivia caught up with Daniel outside the school. "Very nice."

"Thank you." Daniel replied.

Maybe things were going to be fine after all.


End file.
